The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

mammon
300
Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night (1600), who
disapproves of frivolous behavior in others, but is
then outraged when made to look ridiculous himself
as the result of a practical joke. He stormed off
the stage like Malvolio, red in the face and swearing
revenge on the whole pack of them.
mammon (mambn) Money or the desire for
material wealth. An Aramaic word meaning
“riches,” it appears in Matthew 6:24 and Luke
16:9–13 in the course of warnings that excessive
interest in worldly riches is incompatible with
devotion to God. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Several later writers, including Edmund
Spenser (1552/53–99) and John Milton (1608–
74), chose to personalize material greed in the
form of an avaricious pagan god or dev il called
Mammon. Material wealth that has been acquired
by dubious means may sometimes be referred to
as mammon of unrigh teousness (as in Luke
16:9). “Mr. Crimsworth . . . frequented no place
of worship, and owned no God but Mammon”
(Charlotte Brontë, <strong>The</strong> Professor, 1857). See also no
man can serve two masters.
man after his own heart, a A person who shares
the same opinions, enthusiasms, or interests as
another. <strong>The</strong> expression comes from 1 Samuel
13:14, in which Samuel rebukes Saul: “But now
thy kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath
sought him a man after his own heart, and the
LORD hath commanded him to be captain over
his people, because thou hast not kept that which
the LORD commanded thee.” “As for Passepartout,
he was a true Pa ri sian of Paris. Since he had
abandoned his own country for En gland, taking
ser vice as a valet, he had in vain searched for a
master after his own heart” (Jules Verne, Around the
World in Eighty Days, 1873). <strong>The</strong> leader of the
community association spent several years grooming his
successor, wanting a man after his own heart.
man born of woman <strong>The</strong> human race, especially
with regard to the shortlived nature of human
existence. <strong>The</strong> phrase comes from Job 14:1–2, in
which Job laments, “Man that is born of a woman
is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth
like a fl ower, and is cut down: he fl eeth also as a
shadow, and continueth not.” “Well- a-well, man
that is born of woman is of few days and full of
trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it’s so”
(Mark Twain, <strong>The</strong> Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1876).
man cannot live by bread alone It takes more
than such basic necessities as food to constitute a
full human life. <strong>The</strong> proverb comes from the Bible,
appearing at Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man doth not
live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the LORD.” It is
quoted by Jesus Christ in his temptation (Matthew
4:4). “Man, we know, cannot live by bread alone
but hang me if I don’t believe that some women
could live by love alone” (Joseph Conrad, Chance,
1913).
man cannot serve two masters See no man can
serve two masters.
mandarin (mandărin) A se nior offi cial, especially
one with a pompous, arrogant manner. <strong>The</strong>
word was fi rst applied by Portuguese visitors to
China to an important Chinese offi cial otherwise
known as the kuan. <strong>The</strong> word “mandarin” comes
from the Sanskrit mantrin, meaning “counsellor.”
<strong>The</strong> government mandarins got hold of the project and
that was the last anyone heard of it.
Manderley See rebecca.